The Structural Function of Nestin in Cell Body Softening is Correlated with Cancer Cell Metastasis.

Intermediate filaments play significant roles in governing cell stiffness and invasive ability. Nestin is a type VI intermediate filament protein that is highly expressed in several high-metastatic cancer cells. Although inhibition of nestin expression was shown to reduce the metastatic capacity of tumor cells, the relationship between this protein and the mechanism of cancer cell metastasis remains unclear.

Measurement of cell adhesion force by vertical forcible detachment using an arrowhead nanoneedle and atomic force microscopy.

The properties of substrates and extracellular matrices (ECM) are important factors governing the functions and fates of mammalian adherent cells. For example, substrate stiffness often affects cell differentiation. At focal adhesions, clustered-integrin bindings link cells mechanically to the ECM.

Controlled cell adhesion using a biocompatible anchor for membrane-conjugated bovine serum albumin/bovine serum albumin mixed layer.

We report here a method for controlling cell adhesion, allowing simple yet accurate cell detachment from the substrate, which is required for the establishment of new cytometry-based cell processing and analyzing methods. A biocompatible anchor for membrane (BAM) was conjugated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) to produce a cell-anchoring agent (BAM-BSA). By coating polystyrene substrates with a mixture of BAM-BSA and BSA, controlled suppression of the substrate's adhesive properties was achieved.